Integrated circuits find application in many of today's consumer electronics, such as cell phones, video cameras, portable music players, printers, computers, calculators, automobiles, etc. Integrated circuits may include a combination of active devices, passive devices and their interconnections.
In some instances, integrated circuits may take the form of nonvolatile memory, which can be an integrated circuit designed to store digital data in the form of an electrical charge. Uniquely, a nonvolatile memory charge remains in storage even after the power is turned off. Accordingly, the use of nonvolatile memory devices can be particularly advantageous for power saving applications or in applications where power can be interrupted.
Nonvolatile flash memory usually takes one of two forms, a stack gate form or a split-gate form. Nonvolatile memory cells utilizing the split-gate type structure typically employ a planar configuration wherein a control gate overlaps at least a portion of a floating gate. In conventional programming schemes, the programming current flows in a path parallel to the control gate, where a relatively small number of the programming electrons are injected into the control gate, thereby slowing program speed times.
Furthermore, as the current processing technology node continues to decrease, chip real estate has become one of the most critical elements of memory cell design. Unfortunately, both the control gate and select gate of a split-gate nonvolatile memory device consume precious chip area, thereby adversely impacting the memory cell capacity per fixed die area (e.g., the amount of information that can be stored in a defined area). Thus, a need still remains for a reliable integrated circuit and method of fabrication, wherein the integrated circuit exhibits improved programming speed, while increasing the amount of information that can be stored in a defined area.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide integrated circuits having improved split-gate nonvolatile memory devices. In addition, it is desirable to provide integrated circuits and methods for fabricating integrated circuits with adjacent memory cells that share a control gate. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.